From the prior art it is commonly known how to produce gear wheels or other toothed workpieces on special tooth-forming machine tools, that is, on special single-purpose machines. For example, special gear milling machines are known, which can produce a tooth profile on a workpiece in that a profile milling cutter or a profiled grinding wheel is controlled in such a way that tooth flanks or teeth are created in the workpiece. The gear cutting tools or profiled disks that already have a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the desired profile shape of the finished tooth flanks on the workpiece. Because the gear cutting tool or the profiled disk is controlled along a path through the workpiece, one or two opposing tooth flanks are thus produced, the profile of which corresponds to the shape of the tool.
Furthermore, conventional toothing machines are known which are likewise counted among the single-purpose machines and in which toothing is produced on a gear wheel using a milling cutter tool, for example, according to the Klingelnberg-, Glason- or Oerlikon method. Here too, the future shape of the tooth flank is defined by the shape of the blade edge of the milling cutter tool.
The known methods described above for the production of toothing on a workpiece have the disadvantage that, after processing of the workpiece, said workpiece then requires post-processing. Modeling and/or an optimization of the contact pattern, for example, which are needed to optimize the running behavior of the toothed workpiece under a specific load for instance, require an additional work step in which the tooth flanks of the toothing on the workpiece have to be reworked according to the desired contact pattern. This is done either manually or on an additional machine tool.
For example, WO 2008/045572 A1 describes this kind of reworking of a workpiece with toothing for the subsequent reworking of the tooth flanks to modify the tooth flank geometry in order to obtain a desired contact pattern behavior. According to the teaching of WO 2008/045572 A1, the reprocessing is performed using lapping, however, such reworking can also be achieved by grinding or by other precision cutting, for example.
This kind of reworking is very time-consuming, however, and in addition, requires that the contact pattern of the toothing be tested under load or without load, and if it still does not correspond to the desired contact pattern, an additional reworking of the tooth flank must be performed.
Production of a toothed workpiece on a universal machine tool is described, for example, in the article “Auf einfachem Weg zu guten Zähnen-Zahnräder mit hoher Qualität auf Standardmaschinen fräsen” [A simple means for cutting of high quality teeth/gear wheels on standard machines] by Hans-Peter Schossig (appeared in the journal WERKSTATT UND BETRIEB, by Carl Hanser Publishing, Munich, edition 2007, No. 4/28, on pages 28 to 32, ISSN 0043-2792) and in WO 2008/133517 A1. Other techniques (e.g., techniques disclosed in German application no. DE 10 2009 008 124) were developed by the assignee of the present application.